“When you get frustrated you get very mad and sometimes you don’t have to let yourself get mad. I think I gave her chance to play well,” Kuzy said. “The first set was very easy, and I just get frustrated a little bit. I stopped moving my feet in the second set and just lost one game and everything’s went wrong. In tennis, you don’t need much.”

No. 3 seed Venus Williams moved on with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Sorana Cirstea, joined by fellow Top 10 seed Agnieszka Radwanska who topped Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-0.

sar – I’d say it’s the same thing that’s been “the matter” for a while – a mucked up serve. He can barely stay above 50% first serves in a match these days. Right now he’s raised it up to a decent 62%, but it goes up and down and he often ends in the 50s. It may be that the stress of his service games affects his confidence overall. I find it odd that he is unable to do more with Rochus’ second serves, for example. His returning is usually dependable. Oh, I don’t know. But I wish him the best obviously. Hope he comes around. I don’t care about his ranking right now; if he slides that’s fine. I just wanna see him play well again.

sar, sigh, rather unbearable to watch these scores so I am turning it off too. Well, kudos to Rochus: he’s taken out Gasquet, and now he’ll probably eliminate Novak in straight sets, and then what? He couldn’t pull a Lube, I don’t think, could he?

Sar- I actually like Nole a lot. I would be quite happy if he were to seriously challenge the Fed-Nadal hegemony. I think that when he’s on he has a very exciting game, and his personality is pretty funny. But I’m sick of the constant whinging and excuse making, and Ive noticed that lately he has taken to making excuses BEFORE tournaments even begin– seen these horrible quotes from him that just make my head shake. It is not the frame of mind of a champion.

TV, did Novak say something before Miami? Just wondering as I haven’t read anything about him lately. I find him generally honest anyhow; if a player knows his game/form is sucking, he might say it. Some don’t. Some do. Before Dubai, Murray said that he hadn’t practiced in a while and didn’t expect to win. I don’t think he was making excuses, just being honest about where he thought his form was at. Maybe this is a bad idea, I don’t know.

Hello people, I see rain suspend play again..what a day! Not a good rhythm for players. Not a great start for Novak either..he is 5-4 ahead at the moment, I think he will fight his way thru in this kind of match..the rain break does not help though!

Hey guys! I’ve been out of town for a few days but I’m back now. Just in time to…scoreboard watch tennis until tomorrow – which is truly ashamed!!! What’s the use of having a “Tennis Channel” and they don’t pick up the entire tournament???? Instead, we have to watch reruns of Davis Cup matches; of the IW final; and other past matches? Thank goodness that Roger plays tomorrow so hopefully I’ll be able to SEE his match.

What’s up with Novak? I got on the scoreboard to see he lost the first set and they are on serve in the 2nd in a rain delay???? I know they say it takes time for someone ‘new’ to come and make a difference, but I’m with you guys – I don’t see what the heck Martin has ‘improved’ with Djokovic’s game since he’s been there.

Anyone know what the weather is going to be in Miami? Is it still raining? Is rain in the forecast for tomorrow?

just tried it myself and it should be fine. good luck my friend. (I am glad you said you could use one ‘s’, I was having a “discussion” with a friend from work, who swore blind that it was a double s! I knew I was right! hahaha! thanks for vote of confidence.

Fot: hmmmm, what to do? Even if he scrapes through this match, it doesn’t buoy my spirits that much. Maybe sar is correct and he needs to get back with Vajda full time. In the late Fall last year, when Vajda was traveling with him – Bejing (won), Shanghai (semis), Basel (won) and Paris (won) – he was serving somewhat better. And then when Todd was with him at USO, WTF, AO, IW and now here, he didn’t do as well imo. It does seem to be a pattern. Oh well, let’s see what evolves. Oy – he just double faulted on set point. GOOD GOD! Desperately trying to hope for the best – come on Nole!!! Get it together.

It was 5-4 Nole in the 2nd when they came back from the rain delay. He had 1 set point in that game, but couldn’t convert. Now in a tiebreak. He was up 6-3 in the breaker. Now it is 6 all. That’s 4 set points and no conversion. Rochus is 2 points from the match. Another set point lost by Nole at 7-6. 8-7 Nole in breaker. Can he get the set? YESSSS!!! Going to a 3rd set

Novak had 0-40 on this first game of third set..rochus took it back to duece and adv Rochus and game Rochus. opportunity went begging for Novak there..he could have had an early lead..anyways, the third set is still young!

Re: Focussing or focussed, isn’t it the British way (at least I remember that from my Brit school days) for those and similar words, who double the consonant? The Americans use one ‘S’ (no wonder I love the Americans, they make things simpler, no fuss, no muss, LOL) but the British always use two *S’*. I’m surprised that you being Canadian, and they follow the British System of Education, A levels et al, use only one ‘S’. That said, Maxi, I think your friend is RIGHT, because you’d certainly receive a spelling demerit for an English school paper.

Perhaps the pedantic Colin, (I love and admire his attention to detail) could shed more light on this. But, to reiterate, from my British schooling the *S* is always doubled.

Hi gordon, long time no see. I am not watching. I don’t think there is any streaming as I checked around, so am just following scores and stats. Nole off to an awful start to the third set after squeaking through the tiebreak. Ugh-ly.

“That said, Maxi, I think your friend is RIGHT, because you’d certainly receive a spelling demerit for an English school paper”.

Hi Von,

Just thought I’d let you know, I am an English Teacher. So I think that I should know – I faltered a bit, when my HOD said he had always spelt it with a double “S”. I know also that Jane is an English Teacher (more experienced than me, hence my question to her). I had always spelt focused/focus with ONE ‘s’, and always look up to Jane, so thought if anyone should know it would be her.

Seriously though, thanks for the input – I like to get things right. So looked it up, and Jane is correct (so knock on effect is, I am too!), that you can spell it either way.

(Sorry everyone, a quick chat on the semantics of the beautiful English Language!).

My OED doesn’t list “focussing” as Brit (and Canadian) as it does for spellings like “favour” or “neighbour”. It could be though that it was Brit and now the spelling of it is phasing to 1 “s” as the more common spelling? Not sure.

———————————————–

Novak just hit double fault #8; two break points for Rochus to get his lead back. Ugly and uglier. Sigh.

contador – you should know by now not to bet on Novak!! He will not win today. I can’t see it. But if he does, I could see him losing in a rout next round. Oh lord he’s making it SO tough to watch -even the scores- lately.

Oh madmax, does that mean you have to deal with students’ parents, you poor thing? That’s one of the reasons I chose college! I haven’t read “The Book Thief” no, but I have read lots about it. Maybe I’ll read it over summer break.

madmax,
you not speaking to me? i had to go to the state capitol-Boise..lol..there and back in an overnight frenzy. forgive me, my friend. have to get caught up, okay.

nole…Jane

appears he has dug himself a hole. un-freaking-believably disappointing : (

livescore hardly gives the whole story. the miami website is awful. not “as it happens” no radio offered. they need to take muti-media lessons from how the French, Russians….European atp coverage is done, even of a 250 series tourny. such a lack!

adv Novak..he can hold now! back to DUECE again, Adv Novak again, long game this one..could turn out to be very important..DUECE again. C’mon Novak! Adv Rochus..oh No.. duece again..important game this is..Adv Novak..and he hold.

contador, am sending you a lot of love through the airwaves here, sorry, only just seen your post. Sometimes I post and then I dont see the post before. I hope you are well and doing okay – I have missed tennis.x very much, even being in Germany for a couple of days. It’s a part of my life now!

Jane, The Book Thief is a MUST – you wont regret it!

And this one as well:

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon (Winner of the Whitbread book of the year) (5 years ago now), but it’s outstanding! He was longlisted for the Man booker prize. It is an absolute MUST.

contador, “un-freaking-believably disappointing” – indeed. It’s over for Djoko in Miami; on to clay, as sar said above. But: do more of these difficult matches await there? 10 doubles today! Egads, can hardly stand the thought.

Look out for Polona Hercog to make a big move up the rankings this year. Great serve, great forhand and she can even score at the net. She is a player with great potential and she is cool enough to make some big upsets in big tournaments.
She is a potential top 10 player and I think she will be there within the next 2 years.
Maby she can make a big splash at the Miami open already.

that has got to be THE most bizarre livescore for nole EVER. I tell you what he needs, DURO needs to come back – then everything will be fine with novak again!

Novak fans, WHY did he employ Todd Martin and WHY isnt his coach back home with him, to cheer him on, moral support, all of that? I know players have different coaches for different seasons. hard/clay/grass etc, but obviously something isnt working right.

does anyone think he is thinking of his ranking too much now on court?

ollyK, i know you are sad right now, but things happen for a reason. Not Nole’s day, so dont dwell on it for too long. He was doing an exhibition match with Ann Ivano…and Mel C and Jean Paul yesterday? WTF? – He needs to focus right now. His head isnt in the right place.

Kimmie, I know…but I want Blake to come through in that one but he’s having a hard time in the 3rd. It just seems so weird that none of us can actually WATCH any of these matches. I mean, if the tournament started on a Wednesday, then we should have had access to television coverage on a Wednesday – NOT starting on a Saturday!!!!! What bright executive made this rule?

Er, contador, I don’t know much about the “kneeling” method; sar mentioned it in a post above. But I too would like to see this with my own eyes – yikes!!

Kimmi – okay, will have to follow Rafa then.

Fot – he still needs a serve. I think he needs to re-think this Martin relationship; it ain’t working. No one else in Novak’s camp ever had him practicing serves on his knees, to my knowledge anyhow. Now this knee thing – we still need to see some shots of it!

when novak was playing well a couple of years ago, his attitude was so off putting. now that he’s not nearly as ingratiating, his playing stinks. maybe he’s got to go back to the chip on the shoulder attitude? somethings got to give…losing to rochus?

Sorry about Nole. Thanks for the link. I cannot believe what I saw, getting Nole on his knees serving, for what purpose? Oh man that was sick…..last time I saw that was an instructor trying to teach “wrist snap” to a 3.0 player. Sorry Todd, just keepin it real.

i watched several youtube videos; interviews with Ernests Gulbis. *shaking head* uh, boy. i best break-up with EG for good and move on.

saw “shutter island.” read someone here on tx, i think margot, saying how well-scripted it is. true, and love leo di caprio. but my friend and i left needing a drink…it’s a sad, dark story, though well-done.

to get happy now, think i’ll throw in vicki-christina-barcelona. love, love that javier bardem and penelope cruz. woody allen written and directed. cutesy and light.

I have always known that TM was a miserable choice. When he hired him, Nole was ranked 3 in the world, which is higher than TM’s best ever rank! And what part of his game was he ever known for, really?

Kimmi – I am curious to see how Ljub makes out here; I wonder if he can carry the momentum. And yeah, nice to “see” Nalby doing well, but it’s so hard to know with no streaming.

Skeeze – ” I for sure wanted to be the guy in that one, lol….ok..ok I’m a guy” – No doubt! I can understand. A lot of lovely ladies. That and Javier isn’t too shabby for us ladies. ; ) Lots of eye candy in that movie.

Hey Kimmi..just kidding about the Muzz having hired TM to mess with Nole’s game. Nole could just have been flattered to get the attention of an American. I can’t think of any other reason he would hire TM.

Contador – ever since your Chardy comments, I’ve decided that we have the same taste in men. You’d better stay away from my city lady!

fed will forever get crap for whatever he wears at wimbles. i like the 2003-2004 ponytail federer best.

and yes, a glass or two of..well, an italian red, or whatever i have but already made the spicy arrabiata sauce for the penne. i love the soundtrack too, the spanish guitar throughout the the entire movie…mmm

what in the world is madmax talking about? osterich eggs! she been watching “top chef?”

livescore looks like 3 sets for nalby and troiki. i heard nalby was packing some poundage. maybe needs more time to get in shape.

but i am all done with EG, though i love the accent, smile, curly hair, and….sometimes his tennis. but the new youtube interview vids…his tennis philosophy is pretty pathetic and what a waste of talent. confirmed though: Erno is practicing w/gumy in argentina, preparing for monte-carlo, i imagine.

“and yes, a glass or two of..well, an italian red, or whatever i have but already made the spicy arrabiata sauce for the penne. i love the soundtrack too, the spanish guitar throughout the the entire movie…mmm”

Wow, Romance up here and Tennis. My two Favs…the best! I’m all in……..:)

Jane/ skeezerweezer, lolzzz! remember the shallow charles guy “christina” is set-up w/ on the sailboat? just my type: life ambition is to snorkel the rest of his life..hahahaa

they are flying off to the “charming little spanish town.” oh soo romantic….who could refuse? so which female character do you relate to most, Jane? joking….no answers desired, but it makes one wonder…suppose the worst fate would be the penelope haracter. Juan Antonio= skeezerweezer? or Doug? don’t answer. better off being the “doug” type-likely.

Nalby has come to life, i see, maybe? yeah the young russian at least got a set.

Glad to see your cheering on Justine along with some other posters. Great player, and like Fed said how many one handed BH players are there?. And she swings at it sweet. She is good for the game, and brings some competition into the Williams world, and for the women’s game all around, a big plus. Glad to see her tiny butt kickin tennis game back! Hope she get’s to top form soon!

skeezer, exactly! i am very happy Clijsters and henin came back. Especially henin, so much talent and at least somebody with variety. Great to watch when she is on..I too hope she gets back to the top quicky..and win wimbledon..yes you can henin.

Whoa, the Ljubster retired – I mean from the match. LOL. He must’ve partied too hard.

contador – Oh bits of me can relate to all the female characters: the murderess-type, the just-go-for-it type, and the play-it-safe type. All the girls have their strong points. But I am a brunette through and through – might play with red or black but no blonde locks for me. : )

Hold on Nalby.

Interesting to see how well Russell did against Big John in the second set…

woooooo jane, Ljubo retired..he was leading a set and a game on second set…wow! now it shows how tough for these players to bring on touramnet after tourny…he had a great run nonetheless..needs some R$R

Anyone knows what was wrong with Ljubicic? I had a feeling he wasn’t going to do well here, but I certainly didn’t think about a ‘retirement’ or injury or something.

And yes, Jane…I can’t wait to see what Roger has on at Wimbledon! lol! I bet it will be something really ‘plain’ this year after all the hype he got last year (which, by the way – I’m one of the few who like it)! lol!

i definitely the conservative regarding romance…but i admire those like…oh, maybe stu and “christina”

hi stu. : )

how are you liking those Erno vids..not exactly on fire about tennis. right. think how different cilic, the same age is about tennis or JMDP. Erno is coming into his physical prime but..the words he uses, the slack attitude. amazing he is even at world #45.

maybe i am misunderstanding him. other huge natural talentsr have made top ten and major wins with slack attitudes, and a contempt for work and practice . i admit, i got bored and couldn’t get through all 5 interviews. i might have missed something important?

Wow, Lube retired? Geez, I hope he is ok. My hero since IW, lol!
He still should be really happy( if his injury is not serious ). 31 and a title win of what the players call “the 5th gs”. Pop a cold one Lube, watch the rest of the tourney and enjoy your IW win. Great run :)

Novak really fought hard if not quite like a falcon and almost scraped it through but he was unlucky today. As they say he is still young barely 23. He will eventually fix his serve unlike other top players who usually cannot. For most players, serve is not something that you can fix in your mid career, but Novak is probably exceptional in that department to defy the conventional wisdom. Oh well, there is always something positive to take from a loss. It will give him more time to prep for clay season and hopefully he will rip most out of it when Vajda resumes his coaching in Europe.
Some young guns prevailed over the favorites today. Chardy, Stakhovsky, and Bellucci deserve credit. A couple of oldies like Robredo, Almagro and Nalbandian were able to deflect threats.
Rafa appears to be unstoppable and is on a mission to compensate his IW loss barring unforeseen physical ailment. By the FO he is likely to regain his No. 2.
Tennis has not looked this unpredictable for a long while and may continue this way all the way through Wimbledon. Hopefully this is happening for good. It may feel like the transitional period of 2000-2003, Roger is firmly holding the reign and there seems to be certain order when it comes to Slam.

jane and Maxi, re focused/focussed. As far as I know, the preferred spelling in America is *focused* while *focussed* is the most commonly used in the UK. It becomes more technical with past participle, etc.

Skeezer: When you snooze, you lose. You disappeared yesterday, hence I made a date with blank. That’s the way the cookie crumbles, my friend. LOL

You enquired as to whether I’ve seen Roddick play. Yes, in 2003 when he won the US Open and a few other times at Flushing Meadows and Miami.
_________________
Olly: Thanks for the update on Djoko’s younger siblings. maybe marko is suffering from middle child syndrome, hence the jealousy.
_________________
Sar: Thanks for the update on Tursunov.

You guys need to give Rafa a break on his outfit. I think he looks cute regardless of what he wears. The hot colours this year for women’s clothes is chocolate brown and pink, so at least Rafa’s not wearing those colours.

I think he can recover if he lets Todd go and gets a good service coach. He got enough volley, drop shot advice from him and doesn’t need his serving advice. He needs to be like Roger…improve on strong points. He HAD a good enough serve but to completely try to change it is crazy.

Q. Did you notice anything different from Novak? His serve didn’t seem as penetrating. He’s pushing his backhand. Did you notice anything, like a shake of confidence in him at all?
OLIVIER ROCHUS: It’s tough to say. The thing of course that I saw, it was more his serve, that he was not serving as good as he normally does. Maybe not as powerful and not too many first serves as he can do.
Normally he’s doing a lot of aces when I play him, also, a lot of aces. Here less, so I think it was nice for me that he was not serving well today.
Because when he’s putting a lot of first serves, it’s even tougher. So I think it was more of this. I saw today his serve was not as good as normal

sar, stu, sad, I know what you mean. He sounds so ‘defeated’ not just by the match/loss but by everything, his struggles, probably the jeers etc. But he also sounds realistic, i.e., “it happens”, “he played better”, “I still had chances” and that he now has “more time to prepare for clay.” But still. : (

Clean, easy wins for roddick, tsonga, rafa. Normal day at work for most of the tennis world..

jane, i don’t have much hope for the clay season either. Mainly because Nole, for all his talent, is not one to recover quickly from issues that get to his head. And this is clearly one of them. It will take a while, and when you bounce back Nole, for goodness sake try not to change a major component of your game….

Has any part of Djokovic’s game improved since hiring todd martin? He needs to find a new coach if things dont work out soon. And from the interview- the courts are even slower than indian wells… is there any fast court anymore?

von- sorry that roddick lost the iw final. i think/hope he’ll do well here though. he’s had good results in miami in recent years right?

I went to sleep last night as I couldn’t stare at live scores thinking that it is going to be one more 3rd setter with Nole as a winner at the end, of course. He proved me wrong, obviously! So, it can be worse than it was during last few months..Thank you, Nole, for pointing that out. I’m pissed and would “kill” him right now. Agree ith Jane, I don’t care if he loses no2 spot, I just want to see him play like “falcon” not like “phoenix in an attempt”, . This is becoming unbearable…

Madmax, thanks. I know, but this time it’ll take me more time to get over…Loss in match against Ljubo was expected in some way, but this…I couldn’t even dream about it in my worst nighmare! Well, I think it is the hardest thing to be Novaks fan these days…

blah – NO! That’s the point! It gets even worse! I want Todd Martin out of his professional life for good. And that practicing on knees..jeeeez…I don’t know anything about coaching tennis, but was that neccesary?! FINALLY he is off to Europe and back to work with Vajda on his old service on HIS FEET I hope, and baseline game..

Von Says:
jane and Maxi, re focused/focussed. As far as I know, the preferred spelling in America is *focused* while *focussed* is the most commonly used in the UK. It becomes more technical with past participle, etc.

March 26th, 2010 at 11:04 pm
Von,

Like I said. (and I dont mean to be rude to you). I am an English Teacher, I majored in English, and whilst I appreciate your input here, I know that I am correct. I posted a full post way back here, on the history of the word and like you to accept it, if you dont mind? To summarise. It’s fine both ways. End of.

I’m sorry about Richard also, and I posted a comment to to you to that effect. However, I can’t remember on which thread. I would have loved to see Rich play again. For a while, he seemed as though he was back, but now it appears that he’s only winning sporadically. Don’t worry, he’ll get there eventually.

_________________
margot: My apologies. I made a boo-boo. You enquired as to whether I’ve ever seen Andy R. play, and I addressed my answer to Skeezer instead. The answer: Yes, several times. I was there at the USO in 2003 to watch him lift the trophy, and have watched him play there several times, as I lived a few miles from Flushing Meadows. I’ve also seen him play in Miami. I was planning to be at the Miami tourney next week, but I got my dates messed up, and will be there the week after.
__________________
Maxi: my apologies for poking my nose where it doesn’t belong. However, I still hold true to what I stated earlier — we’re talking usage in two countries. FYI, just because someone is an English teacher does not make them the absolute authority on the English language. I’ve encountered some English majors who could benefit from some revised courses. End of.

yeah well you know what Von, the fact that you want to degrade what I am and how long I studied says it all about you. I really couldnt give a toffee about what you think of me – i know that already. and yes. you are right. you did poke your nose in because of course, you are the authority on everything.

By the way von, not wishing to sound arrogant or anything, but you will be aware (am sure), that canada is a commonwealth country, queen head of state, etc. and so our UK law is also applicable in Canada? How do I know this? well, i have a double first in Law too. just sayin’

Von, you might want to have a word with the English Universities over here, you might of course be able to teach them a thing or two about semantics of the English Language. You seem such an expert to me.

I find you incredibly dismissive Von. When people study hard to major in subjects of interest, you shouldnt really try to do ‘em down, know what I’m saying?

I may be misjudging you but you just dont like to be wrong do you? Ah well. you cant teach an old dog new tricks I suppose.

Maxi: I said end of, and that’s how it will be. Mea culpa for geting into something that I shouldn’t have. You seem to think that you know me more than I know myself, how very complacent. Anyway, case closed…….

I liked Djokovic when he was just starting. I thought he was very good and he was so much fun to watch. He looked like he was enjoying playing tennis. He has changed a lot since then. He looked so stressed when he plays now. There is no more fun in his game. He gets annoyed by the crowd and responds to them in an annoying manner, as if even taunting them. In his loss yesterday, a news report said he was booed off the court and he responded to them by giving them a thumbs up sign. I am sure that would do nothing but annoy the crowd even more. Novak’s attitude has deteriorated and his game is going down with it. He is attacking his goal to be number one in a wrong way. I doubt if he has the mentality to be number one.

Interesting insight. I think the opposite though IMO, but agree with you on some points. Game has been going south, and naturally he doesn’t like it. Who would? He knows he is better and he is probably p$ssed at the world. Hope he finds his game soon, and I bet ya his personality will come around.:)

As per usual, I didn’t get down to your level of name calling, and your rudeness, which is what you preach ad nauseam and infinitum, here and every other site to others even though you are the one who freely indulges. I merely stated my points and I closed the conversation in a civil and polite way. However, that’s not to your liking is it, as it did not afford you the opportunity to get into some nasty sewer mouth digs as you are so oft prone to do. You just had to have a go at me with the *clap trap* remark.

Tell me Maxi, do you always have to get down into the sewer? How about if you try staying above, uhh just maybe a few inches, and you’ll find the air is a lot fresher than that which you are accustomed to all of the time. I wouldn’t call you any names, because there are too many to describe you, so all I’d like to do with you, oh professed English major, is defenestrate you.

BTW, Maxi, you @ 8:37 am, sounds like a two-year old who’s gotten herself into a tantrum, kicking, screaming and hurling insults, because she can’t have her way = name calling. tut, tut, infra dignitatem.

blah: I just saw your post on Roddick’s loss. Thanks for your kind remarks/condolences, it’s appreciated. I’ve seen a trend with Andy ever since he lost that Wimby final. He can’t seem to win the final of anything, with the exception of Brisbane, and even then he had problems closing out the match. He appears to be suffering from a visitation of that awful day.

I think the Miami court is better suited to the slower servers as it’s coated with several layers of the gritty stuff that slows the ball moving through the court. Anyway, only time will tell.